Milestone: Leonard J. Greenspoon (1945–2025)

A towering scholar who made biblical scholarship accessible to BAR readers for nearly two decades, Leonard J. Greenspoon—the Philip M. and Ethel Klutznick Chair in Jewish Civilization at Creighton University—passed away on May 22. He was 79 years old. After completing both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Richmond, Greenspoon went to Harvard to study Classics for his Ph.D., though he soon transferred to biblical and Near Eastern studies. His dissertation, published as Textual Studies in the Book of Joshua (Scholars Press, 1983), demonstrated his dual command of Semitic and classical languages and inaugurated his influential role […]